Sunday, 13 August 2017

This is a tricky post to write as it spans 1950 to 2017. It’s intended to be Part Four of the Decathlon series, yet somehow Marty McFly and Doc Emmett Brown have slipped in - rightly so as they help to tell the story.

Wednesday, 9 August 2017

On taking a short walk on a country path through woodland, there are so many choices driven by your senses. What do you photograph or video at the time or write about later?

One option, just relax and see where the moment takes you. While out yesterday, I had nothing in mind, albeit to be 'out' in the first place. That's often the hardest step to take.

All I really wanted, to walk and see things for the first time. The Woodland in August is so different than any other time - that said, I could easily say the same about every month or season of any year.

Without really thinking my mobile came out the pocket being drawn by the Hornbeam Catkins. That was the first of seventy six photos, four audio recordings, three videos and one photosphere.

They had moved the stile, to be more exact - it had disappeared. Styles are quite iconic on a walk, they signal the end of one thing and the beginning of the next. To be fair, I know this path is on a pony route, so fair enough.

Next were the toadstools, four were sat in a row. Nine photos later then two trees.

What caught my attention, the farm machinery in the next field - something I could not see. That's what made me start recording the audio. How the tractor, the farmer's voices were all intermixed with the wind in the trees and the bird song. There were discussions on how best to attach the pickup reel to the tow mechanism.

0:00 Audio One 1:36 Audio Two
2:49 Audio Three and 3:58 Audio 4

In the video I made, you will hear four audio sets, this slide will help tell them apart and look at the waveforms. Post edit was made in Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 13.0 on Win10. Audio recorded using Moto G4, then using Audacity to Normalise and Compressor (no noise reduction).

Friday, 4 August 2017

As a Google Community Local Guide, I have 1,611 photos on Google Maps (with view 26 million views). I also have 211 edits and have added 47 places. Anyone can be a local guide, find out more at the website.

Tuesday, 1 August 2017

This is a longer post which digs as deep as I can at using a curious mind to think about and explore a retail store.

This post, like all posts on this site are a discussion where comments are open at the base of this page. In this age of realtime web publishing, an edit or update is only a click away (any I make are labelled with edit/update and the date).

If you’re new to Decathlon, or haven’t visited in awhile let’s get an overview. There are 20 Passion Brands which are described on the corporate website as, ‘Our twenty Passion Brand teams channel all their energy into developing attractive, technical, yet simple products, always at the lowest possible prices’.

Saturday, 29 July 2017

This post is Part Two in the Decathlon series. Missed Part One, it’s called Help People Cope with and Access the Modern World, Case Study Decathlon (read it here).

In Part One, you’ll find a backstory on how people (in this case me), found out about Decathlon in about 2001 way before the web and online gripped the planet. Hence the title, cope with and access the modern world as the customer and we as people have many search and buying decisions to make whether physical or virtual.

Friday, 28 July 2017

This post is part one of a set of two or three. Across networks on the internet my name as Mike Downes is followed by a few words namely, ‘help people cope with an access the modern world’. My twitter bio is on the right.

I really don't expect people to pay attention to that, yet it has a meaning for me underlying most of my motivations for making videos and helping people learn.

Friday, 21 July 2017

On 22 June 2017 at VidCon, YouTube announced this new thing called VR180 Virtual Reality 180 (blog post). We also know YouTube announced a new way to see and share 360 video on 13 March 2015 (blog post).

On first hearing about VR180, I was like, 'it should be 120 degrees, but hey 360 halved is 180, so a fair compromise.

Thursday, 25 May 2017

Over the last few days, we have seen many important and urgent tweets containing written information in photos.

As twitter does not allow more than 140 characters in a tweet, many organisations such as the Greater Manchester Police, The O2 and Mayor Andy Burnham have resorted to a words words and an image containing the message.

Tuesday, 14 March 2017

‘’A Police Officer responds on a blue light to an emergency, ‘violent male in local park’. Officer is single crewed and first on the scene.On the Officer’s vehicle dashboard, a button labelled ‘Drone Follow Me’ which gets a tap as the officer exits the vehicle.